live from washington, this is bbc news. welcome to viewers on pbs in america. fox news settles dominion defamation case for more than three quarters of a billion dollars. lies have consequences. the truth does not know red or blue. a man in missouri, accused of shooting ralph yarl, who rang his doorbell by mistake, hands himself into police. and we speak to a country music superstar and his tribute to

kyiv. hello and welcome. we start here in the us where fox news network has reached a last minute settlement, in a defamation case brought against it by a voting machine company. the case is linked to claims that the 2020 us presidential election was rigged against donald trump. fox news agreed to pay dominion $787.5 million. with the settlement, fox will avoid a high—profile trial. dominion voting systems sued fox news for $1.6 billion so they actually settled for less than half of what they were asking for. this all came about because dominion claimed that their reputation was damaged after fox knowingly spread lies about its voting machines after the 2020 us election. they were repeating claims by then president donald trump who had falsely claimed that dominion voting machines rigged the election to favour winner joe biden.

dominion said fox hosts amplified the "baseless allegations" but, at the time, fox claimed it was newsworthy. this is how dominion responded to settlement. the truth matters. lies have consequences. over two years ago, a torrent of lies swept dominion and election officials across america into an alternative universe of conspiracy theories, causing grievous harm to dominion and the country. fox news has released its own statement, saying: they added: let's speak to ronnell

andersenjones, who is a media law professor at the university of utah. good evening. are you surprised came to a settlement so it quickly? i came to a settlement so it cuickl ? ~ . came to a settlement so it quickly?— quickly? i think that most folks who _ quickly? i think that most folks who watch - quickly? i think that most folks who watch this - quickly? i think that most | folks who watch this space quickly? i think that most - folks who watch this space and think about media law in the country are not surprised to see a settlement because of the vast majority of media cases and defamation cases come to settlement. lots of folks were surprised to see it at this 11th hour. the timing of it is more surprising than the fact of it. is more surprising than the fact of it. , . more surprising than the fact ofit., . n, more surprising than the fact ofit., ., n,, more surprising than the fact ofit., ,, ,, , of it. is that because it is so difficult to _ of it. is that because it is so difficult to prove _ of it. is that because it is so i difficult to prove defamation? well, yes. the constitutional bar here is incredibly high and deliberately so. the first amendment protects robust compensations on matters of public concern —— conversations. so when someone sues the a case like this it shows not only the press with sloppy or an aperture or biased but it engaged with no fault

with reckless disregard of the truth. that state of mind evidence is difficult to show and that's why these things usually move to settlement. given what we have seen in this case of the thousands of documents gathered, how difficult would had have been to prove defamation, had this had gone to trial? this to prove defamation, had this had gone to trial?— to prove defamation, had this had gone to trial? this was an incredibly _ had gone to trial? this was an incredibly strong pace. - had gone to trial? this was an incredibly strong pace. most l incredibly strong pace. most folks who are experts in the area think of it as one of the strongest cases of actual malice we have seen ever in a major media case. it included a really vast trove of information and evidence that dominion had gathered from internal conversations at fox new, including key fox players saying it is a lion it is crazy and it is ludicrous. those kind of pieces of evidence would have been quite powerful to put

before a jewellery to prove the sort of case it had to he is. what kind of precedent does it set for people in the future on who can bring this type of case? ,, ,, case? one of the immediate future is _ case? one of the immediate future is a — case? one of the immediate future is a precedent - case? one of the immediate future is a precedent we - case? one of the immediate i future is a precedent we should be most interested in. this is neither laughter not the first of the cases that have been brought against fox, focused on these election to nihilism coverage kinds of decisions. —— election coverage. we probably should see developments in those cases that are also at hand in a similar style. looking at the settlement, do you think it was possible that it was the plan of dominion all along to settle? it it was the plan of dominion all along to settle?— along to settle? it certainly may have _ along to settle? it certainly may have been, _ along to settle? it certainly may have been, more - along to settle? it certainly may have been, more to i along to settle? it certainlyl may have been, more to the pointer probably was their plan not to settle at a crucial earlier stage. you can imagine

that fox probably would have been most incentivised to settle before a lot of the powerful evidence became available to the public, before people heard about the ways people heard about the ways people at fox were talking about donald trump, talking about donald trump, talking about their own sources, talking about their own audience. dominion�*s chose not to settle at that stage in part i think because it always had a public facing view of the suit and really wanted to use that as a referendum on election day nihilism and disinformation more broadly. its ability to do so was able to keep going with litigation to the eve of trial and probably incentivised by some very large dollar figures to move to settlement. —— referendum and election day denial. ~ ,, ,, , referendum and election day denial. , ,, ,, , , , denial. what has made this such a landmark _ denial. what has made this such a landmark case? _

denial. what has made this such a landmark case? it _ denial. what has made this such a landmark case? it was - a landmark case? it was interesting for _ a landmark case? it was interesting for a - a landmark case? it was j interesting for a number a landmark case? it was i interesting for a number of reasons because it was consequential institutionally — constitutionally and legally and politically and socially, it sits at the intersection of some of the most important conversations about disinformation and the changing media environment and incentives created in the new media ecosystem to engage in this conspiratorial, viral lies. that, ithink, turn the attention of the country to it that really has not been true in other defamation cases. i think it will launch some ongoing conversations about those important issues in the time to come.— those important issues in the time to come. really great to net our time to come. really great to get your analysis _ time to come. really great to get your analysis of _ time to come. really great to get your analysis of the - time to come. really great to | get your analysis of the story. we turn to sudan, where there's been more fighting, despite a ceasefire that was meant to have been agreed upon between two rival military groups.

this is the latest footage from the capital of khartoum. heavy gunfire, explosions, warplanes were still being heard around the city. over the last few days, hundreds of people have been killed in the violence. sudan is one of the biggest, and poorest, countries in africa and it has experienced years of instability as it's tried to transition towards a democratically elected government. the latest fighting is because of a power struggle between these two men: general abdel fattah al—bur—han, president of sudan's military government, on the left, and his deputy, mohamed hamdan dagalo, who leads the country's biggest paramilitary group, the rsf, on the right. the united nations has now described sudan's humanitarian situation as "catastrophic" — with mass displacement of people. the red cross has echoed that concern — let's hearfrom them. the truth is that at the moment, it is almost impossible to provide any humanitarian services in and around khartoum.

there are calls from various organisations and people trapped for evacuation. for the past four days, people have been out of water and food, electricity has been rationed in some places, totally disconnected. the united nations is ready to take the "heartbreaking decision" to pull out of afghanistan in may if it can't persuade the taliban to let local women work for the organization. the un is also warning that economy of the country will shrink and inflation will rise if there's a drop in international aid. fom kabul, the bbc�*s south asia correspondent, yogita limaye, reports. no time for a childhood. ii—year—old saeed ali akbar must work every day. this is so that his family can eat — one of more than a million children out of school in afghanistan. he was in sixth grade till last year. "i really liked school. "i miss it.

"this is very hard work, but i've got used to it now," he says. next door, his older brother does the same work. nine hours of hammering and welding earns them 150 afghanis a day — less than $2. their father lost his job when afghanistan's economy collapsed and has now gone to iran to find work. their mother begs on the streets. translator: | feel awful that | my young children are working. this is their time to study and be something. but life is hard for us. i am struggling to find work and they have to provide for the family. when the taliban took over, foreign money that was being given to this country's government was frozen, triggering an economic collapse. aid organisations have so far

played a crucial role, saving people from going hungry. in recent months, though, the taliban has increased restrictions on women working for them, which threatens to put their operations and their funding at risk. i met a senior official in the taliban's finance ministry... my name is yogita from the bbc. ..who says they're working to improve the economic situation. basically in the previous government, there were a lot of corruptions and misuses of the power of the government. we have transparency in all our departments, and there is a very good 37% of increase in our revenues. two—thirds of your population currently does not know where their next meal is coming from. that is not a self—reliant economy. so, how crucial is the operation of aid organisations at this moment? aid, these are temporary things. thank you for the international community helping our people in all over afghanistan. but this is not

the solution we need. we need not only aid, we need trade. we need the aid effectiveness. we need developmental aid. we need the international communities to come and work with us. but it is the policies of your government, including the restrictions on women and girls, which are making it tougherfor aid organisations to operate in this country. is your government willing to take responsibility for your share of what you should be doing to further expand the aid that is coming to your country? so, the girls�* education and girls stopping them from the work, so this is, i think, the internal policy of islamic emirates. but i think all the things, all the humanitarian aid and the donations and the grants, those should not be related to this issue — this issue only. the gap between afghanistan's rulers and the world is widening at an unexpectedly rapid pace.

its people are at risk of being left to fight a crisis on their own. yogita limaye, bbc news, kabul. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. everyone loves a spitfire. here at heritage hangar, they have just returned their 15th spitfire to the air. recovered from an israeli kibbutz, much of the fuselage was still intact. it is a challenge and we all like a challenge. we are lucky enough to fly these aeroplanes and i find it is a greater challenge getting them in the air than it is to fly them. the spitfire was built with a purpose in mind. after the war, many were scrapped and melted down so to think that 82 years after the battle of britain

that some are still here and flying is extraordinary. during the second world war the pilots who flew these aeroplanes were straight from school so in this hangar in the corner of kent another slice of history has been restored. a piece of magic that has been brought back to life. you're live with bbc news. to missouri now — where a white man accused of shooting and injuring a black teenager who accidentally rang the wrong doorbell — has handed himself into police. andrew lester — who's 84 — has been released on $200,000 bail. two criminal charges — including assault — have been announced against him. ralph yarl — a 16—year—old boy — survived the shooting. he was supposed to pick his twin brothers up from a friend's house, but went to the wrong address. ralph yarl — a 16—year—old boy — survived the shooting. 0ur nomia iqbal has more. ralph yarl is a 16—year—old

high school student. described by his teachers as a kind boy and a musical prodigy. last week he went to pick up his twin brothers from a friend's place but accidentally went to the wrong house and rang the bell. ., , the wrong house and rang the bell. ,, , , ,, l the wrong house and rang the bell. ,, , , ,, , ~ bell. he was shot twice. and while he _ bell. he was shot twice. and while he was _ bell. he was shot twice. and while he was standing - bell. he was shot twice. and j while he was standing there, his brother was standing right outside but he got a couple of bullets in his body,. the teenager— bullets in his body,. the teenager was _ bullets in his body,. the teenager was taken - bullets in his body,. the teenager was taken to i bullets in his body,. the teenager was taken to hospital but is now at home recovering. the man accused of shooting him, 84—year—old andrew lester, has been charged over the attack. the number 16 has been graffiti on do andrew lester's house, ralph yarl�*s age. mr lester, an old man, said he was acting in self defence and there are controversial laws in there are controversial laws in the state called stand your ground which allows citizens to take action if they feel there is a threat. mr lester said it was late at night, he bought it was late at night, he bought it was a break—in and he was scared of ralph yarl�*s tall height but ralph's family don't

believe it was his height that caused mr lester to reach his gun. many believe this is a hate crime because ralph is black. hundreds gathered outside the city courthouse calling for an investigation. l calling for an investigation. i live five minutes away from the house where everything happened and i have little siblings, nieces and nephews who live in these neighbourhoods and know that one of my neighbours potentially could have shot one of my own, itjust hurts me a lot. of my own, it 'ust hurts me a lot. , ., , ., ., of my own, it 'ust hurts me a lot. , ., ., . lot. this was a hate crime because _ lot. this was a hate crime because the _ lot. this was a hate crime because the shooter - lot. this was a hate crime because the shooter was | because the shooter was motivated by the race of the gym — motivated by the race of the gym he _ motivated by the race of the gym. he doesn't have to hate the person to do that. if you targeted _ the person to do that. if you targeted young ralphjust targeted young ralph just because targeted young ralphjust because it was his race, that's a hate — because it was his race, that's a hate crime. it is not a hate crime — a hate crime. it is not a hate crime under missouri law, but it is_ crime under missouri law, but it is under— crime under missouri law, but it is under the constitution. how— it is under the constitution. how was _ it is under the constitution. how was ralph doing? ralph is doinu how was ralph doing? ralph is doing amazingly _ how was ralph doing? ralph is doing amazingly considering. i doing amazingly considering. i'm doing amazingly considering. l'm so— doing amazingly considering. i'm so blown away by his physical— i'm so blown away by his physical recovery that we can .et physical recovery that we can get lost — physical recovery that we can get lost in the fact that he still— get lost in the fact that he still has _ get lost in the fact that he still has a long way to go to recover~ _ still has a long way to go to recover-— recover. missouri is a very pro-gun — recover. missouri is a very pro-gun state _ recover. missouri is a very pro-gun state with - recover. missouri is a very pro-gun state with no - recover. missouri is a very - pro-gun state with no licenses pro—gun state with no licenses or background checks required to own a weapon but their shock

as another innocent victim of us gun violence, this time, a teenager, just ringing a doorbell. nomia iqbal, bbc news, missouri. video footage has been released of what the kremlin says was a visit by president putin to russian—occupied parts of ukraine. 0ur ukraine correspondentjames waterhouse has the details what vladimir putin is doing in this footage is looking to send a very deliberate choreographed message i think to the west, ukraine and russia itself and everything is going according to plan. numerous offensives have been staged over the past weeks and months, with very modest yet hardfought gains and is trying to seize control of the narrative. the bbc has verified he was indeed in the southern partially occupied kherson region but we don't know when it was filmed. interest in previous footage he talked about the upcoming east with some senior officers but

the kremlin is claiming it was shot yesterday. there are a few contradictions. as for ukraine, it changes little in terms of its military reality. it is still hoping to stage a counteroffensive. it is much anticipated and hopeful that the noises coming out of kyiv is that ukraine isn't in a position to do so. president zelenskyy visit visited —— visited the eastern city of avdiivka which is right on the frontline. he gave his own troops there an easter message and i don't that was a coincidence. staying with ukraine and earlier this month, a bipartisan delegation of us senators visited kyiv for meetings. they were joined by american country music star, brad paisley. this was him in kyiv. he met ukraine's president zelenskyy as well. before his visit, he released a song, dedicated to ukraine, that included a message

from president zelensky. i spoke to brad, about his visit. what was behind you going to kyiv with three us senators. senator mark kelly from arizona is a friend of mine and when he heard the song, he asked if i'd been and i said that i was invited but it was a difficult thing to do without the right transportation and the right security in the way that you go in and out and you need the cooperation of multiple governments. he said, do you want to go? isaid, yeah, i do. and next thing you know, i got to hop on the train with them and be an unofficial tag along on this trip and see for myself what is going on there and i will tell you this, i will never be the same. why do you say that? what was it about kyiv that

left an impression on you? i think it is that they are defiantly living a life in between air raid sirens. it is not what i thought it would be. i thought i would walk out, when the train arrived in the morning and we were met at the station with the ambassador and security that would take us through the city and i broke away from the senators and went to see as much as i could while they had some high—level briefings and, really toured the city myself with the help of the organisation, united 2a, that i am working with. it wasn't all devastation. in fact, most of what had been hit in kyiv has been rebuilt very quickly. they take pride in the fact that there was a missile strike on a busy street that was an intersection in the city across from a major building, like, an opera house—type area.

and within four days they were showing me pictures, within four days it was paved, fixed and cars were driving again. they refused to stop being free and in that sense it was one of the more impactful things. i could not even process it fully that day. it wasn't until we return to poland and i got back here to the united states and home that i started to unpack everything and i am so inspired. you mentioned the song, same here. you actually sang that in st michael's square in kyiv. what was that experience like and what were you hoping to achieve, hoping to bring to kyiv and the people? # missing your mum, worried about your babies, # and love each otheer like crazy.# one thing that some did was when our ambassador from the united states met

with the station she said "we don't get celebrities very much, especially not music artists," and there were such enthusiasm, i went to sing at the embassy for some of our people and i went around town with many of these tour guides and met people who are in the thick of this. there was a gentleman who sings country music in ukraine who came and sang one of my songs that he had translated into their language and sang it back to me and it worked. it actually sounded, maybe better. there was guitar builder in kyiv who built me an electric guitar and gave it to me and said that when i knew you were coming and wanted to give you this. and we love your song about this. and i think these kind of artistic missions, have as much to do with the progress of informing people about this as anything that can be political. you mentioned the political aspect and i want to ask you, you said you are good friends with mark kelly the arizona

senator who you went on this trip with. and i want to read you something he said: quote there have been shifts in opinion among lawmakers here in the united states and public opinion about continuing that support for ukraine. do you have a view on that? i definitely have a view on that. having been there. some of the dissenting voices, they are trying to do certain things and say certain things in our country but the bottom line is i think as a government and people we are largely united on this and it is really key for us to lead the world in a way that we can in this situation because they really are trying to uphold a way of life and a way of government that we all believe in, so much so that

all of our countries have done the necessary steps at some point in our history to become what there. they are at that moment right now and i am right there with them in saying do more. anything i can do to help. it is very inspiring when you see the fact they have just, they are not willing to take no for an answer in the country. they are going to be free at all costs. i have to ask you about meeting president zelenskyy, what was his demeanour like, meeting him in person? kind of exactly what you would think. this is a guy who has the weight of the world on his shoulders. it is an interesting thing. i am married to an actress and he is a former actor and comedian and one thing i know about actors and especially comedians, there are nerves of steel that come with that job that my wife has, that he has, a friend of mine, a good friend of mine has a saying, never underestimate the grit and nerves of a comedian. and this is a guy, it seems

like nothing rattles him but, more than that i feel like he is a completely straight shooter. sitting there and talking to him for quite a while he does not mince words. he does not have time to mince words. he is too busy for that. and it is kind of refreshing in that sense. and as you can imagine it was surreal for me after we had done, we had done a 45 minutes we recorded when we recorded the song and spoke about a lot of things and he spoke about how he hoped i would come see him. so when i walk in, one of the first things i said was well, you invited me. but i also said to him, i said i hope you like the song and he said i do, i do, i do.

thank you for watching a show, make sure to download our app for the latest headlines and analysis. stay with us on bbc news. hello. big contrast in the weather across the uk on tuesday. we've got up to 21 degrees in the scottish highlands. plenty of sunshine generally across the highlands. this image from the afternoon in durness. further east, edinburgh lots of low cloud mist and murk being dragged in on the easterly wind. this was newington, just nine degrees. but similar temperatures really along much of the north sea coast on tuesday afternoon. won't be much different either, i fear this wednesday. perhaps brighter though across eastern england as the area of cloud and showery rain that we saw hanging around on tuesday moves away westwards. but it is those north sea

temperatures that are real killers to the temperatures adjacent to the north sea, even on land at this time of year with an easterly wind. basically, we pick up cold air that's been sitting across the north sea and feed it straight into eastern coasts. further west with some sunshine, things do get a chance to warm up. and we're looking at highs towards the west today in the best of any sunshine of 15 or 16 degrees, a bit more cloud for wales. in the southwest, though, one or two showers around here could be a shade cooler. pollen levels down from the very high levels across england and wales that we saw earlier this week, but still very high in a few spots and high quite widely across the uk for any allergy sufferers. now looking to thursday, those isobars on that chart opened up a little bit there. for the keen eyed amongst

you, that should mean lighter winds. going through the night with clear skies, lighter winds, some cold air hanging around there. you've got all the ingredients to make for a frosty start to thursday. gardeners can easily be caught out. i know i have been, by putting out tender plants at this time of year and then those temperatures falling away. and even through thursday daytime, we just pull the wind round to a bit more of a north—easterly direction. that's just going to bring in some slightly cooler air than we started the week with perhaps some showers into eastern england later in the day. what we're looking at is our temperatures tending away from the mid—teens into perhaps the lower end of double figures for thursday and still perhaps just ten degrees along the north sea coast. the high pressure in the north gives way to allow low pressure to come swirling up from the south. that means we will see, i think, some showers spreading across england and wales on friday, more widely across the whole of the uk for saturday and sunday. we potentially pick up a northerly wind and some much colder weather for early next week.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur. they say a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. in that context, there are growing concerns in both the european union and nato that one member state, hungary, is undermining their collective cohesion.

hungary is a consistent outlier on many